For once, most of the current cryptocurrency-related discussions will not revolve around Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Litecoin. Instead, we saw XRP gain a lot of value overnight and reaching a new all-time high. It has been a while since the XRP price showed any significant momentum. However, things are looking pretty good right now. Whether or not we will see more XRP price gains, remains to be seen, though.

XRP Price Tops out at $0.51

The year 2017 has been extremely bullish for all cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Although most Bitcoin and altcoin fans don’t like Ripple or their native XRP asset, it has certainly cemented its legacy in this industry. Earlier this year, we saw the XRP price rise from $0.0066 al the way to $0.34 in quick succession. No one knew for sure what spurred this sudden surge back then, and most people dismissed the XRP price gain as a pump-and-dump cycle.

Thanks to some solid partnerships with Asian banks, Ripple’s ecosystem has been growing pretty significantly as of late. Moreover, the Ripple team announced their lockup of 55 billion XRP – over half of the maximum supply – in time-locked escrow contracts. This funds will not be made accessible on exchanges, although Ripple will try to sell XRP to their current and future partners. Ever since this lockup was announced, people have been waiting for any significant XPR price momentum.

Nothing seemed to happen at first, as the XRP has hovered between $0.20 and $0.25 for most of Q3 and Q4 2017. Things suddenly picked up momentum late last night, as the XRP price noted major gains in quick succession. An initial push to $0.35 was rejected, yet the price bounced to $0.42 in the end. After more pushback, another leg up began to propel the XRP price all the way to $0.51. Since hitting that mark, the market has turned bearish gain, as people start taking major profits.

With over $3.216bn in 24-hour trading volume, the demand for XRP certainly is genuine. It is uncanny how this volume rose so quickly, even though the XRP market usually generates a few hundred million on a daily basis. Seeing this number go into the $3bn range is pretty spectacular and entirely unexpected as well. At the same time, all currencies and assets in the top 10 are in high demand as of late, and XRP is not an exception in this regard.

Unsurprisingly, the South Korean exchanges are driving the Ripple price up right now. Bithumb generated over $1bn in XRP trading volume, whereas Coinone added another $308.68m. Bittrex is in third place, although they are not that far ahead of Poloniex, Bitfinex, and Korbit. It seems a lot of fresh capital is flooding of the XRP market right now, although we know this is only a momentary snapshot of how the markets are evolving. Anything can change on a whim’s notice, especially in the world of cryptocurrency.

It is interesting to keep an eye on this XRP price momentum right now. While most people dismiss this asset as “not a cryptocurrency” and ‘evil bank money”, it is evident there is a lot of merit to what Ripple has to offer. Whether or not we will see the Ripple price continue to rise in the next few hours and days, remains to be determined. As is the case with most cryptocurrencies rising in value, things will either calm down or reverse altogether. Then again, all markets are thriving right now, and we may not see any major XRP price changes anytime soon.